Epicor® Upgrades, Reinstallations, and brand New Installations

Epicor® Upgrades and Installations

As an independent IT service provider, Practical Technology Solutions is ready to help you with anything you need from Epicor® software, and that starts with having the best installation of the software possible. Whether you’re downloading Epicor® for the first time or seeking to upgrade your current system, PTS can handle all of your Epicor® upgrade, reinstallation, and brand new installation needs.

Epicor® and Your Business

Our staff is armed with over 175 combined years of experience, helping businesses of all industries and sizes. Just a few of the industries and applications we’ve helped with implementation and upgrading are:

Manufacturing: We’ve assisted machine shops and steel mills to aerospace and railroad manufacturers with their software, no matter the size or scope of the business. When properly implemented, Epicor® software is the perfect high-speed software to provide manufacturers with business intelligence, analytical data and operations tracking — helping manufacturers follow through with their business’ processes from start to finish.

Retail: Retail stores of all kinds, regardless of their product, can benefit from properly implemented software. With a perfectly executed version of the software, complete with streamlined processes, retailers can manage point-of-sale solutions along with inventory tracking and customer behavior analytics.

Distribution: Warehousing and distribution services need a way to track their incoming and outgoing product, which is where Epicor® can provide a perfect solution. From resource planning to managing orders and staging, Epicor® offers a single software solution to keep your distribution business flowing.

Service: The service industry is wide and varied in its processes and service types, offering everything from engineering and design services to business software. Regardless of the service, fully upgraded and operational software offers financial and forecasting capabilities as well as customer data tracking and employee scheduling. No matter what your service business needs, a properly implemented license can get it done.

No matter how long your business has been using Epicor® software or how perfectly the default Epicor® settings fit in with your business’ needs, implementing and upgrading Epicor® software is crucial to improving your business processes. However, it is also an extremely complex and multifaceted process, and PTS knows it from top to bottom. At PTS, we can offer you the expertise needed to execute an install or upgrade perfectly.

Epicor® Consulting Services

As part of your Practical Technology Solutions experience, you’ll be partnered with a certified Epicor® consultant. We’ll work with you, serving in whatever capacity you want us, whether it’s as a project manager or as a partner to your manager on staff.

Our Epicor® upgrade staff use only the most practical, most efficient implementation and upgrade approach for your desired version. That’s why for both Epicor® implementation and upgrading, we’ve developed detailed and highly successful processes to ensure consistent quality for all our customers.

Epicor® Implementation and Upgrade Best Practices

Less than 50 percent of Epicor® implementations achieve the expected benefits they’re told they’ll receive at the time of purchase. The biggest reason for this is that organizations implement their software incorrectly for their business; most typical through a lack of understanding of the software. At PTS, we want to ensure you implement your software in the best way for your business, which is why we employ implementation processes using the best practices recommended by Epicor®.

These best practices include:

Focusing on Processes and Requirements: When implementing ERP software, too many businesses focus on developing technical capabilities they simply don’t need, while glossing over ones that would benefit their company. This is why observing business processes is a key step to software implementation. Understanding the business in which software will operate allows technicians to identify, prioritize and implement the best capabilities and functions for your business.

Developing a Business Case: Half of the battle of implementing ERP software is justifying the process to management. By building a comprehensive case for your ERP implementation process, you can better guarantee the process will be approved, and you can get everyone committed and convinced of the project. Additionally, your proposal would outline what you expect from the software and project estimated timelines and results — allowing you to judge ROI and determine the success of the implementation in a more concrete and quantifiable manner.

Managing Resources: All quality implementation processes dedicate the proper resources to the effort, combining both internal resources, like internal IT departments, and external resources, like PTS’ team of independent Epicor® consultants, to contribute to the cause. By involving and properly managing these resources, these implementation processes tend to go more quickly and efficiently than projects with only internal or only external resources.

Gaining Commitment: It shouldn’t just be your IT team on the case. Your executives and end users should be completely on board with the entire project and be invested in its progress and success. By gaining executive support and commitment, you can ensure your company is dedicating the attention and resources needed to get everything from the testing to the training done in a timely manner. The support of your end users is also important, since they are the ones who will be using the software on a day to day basis. They must be completely committed to finish training in a timely manner.

Thorough Planning: A proper implementation should be planned as soon as possible. Once the needs of your system are determined, a high-quality implementation team should develop a detailed development plan and schedule with you, outlining everything from data migration to training schedules. Teams that do this tend to get the job more quickly and cheaply than teams that don’t plan ahead.

At PTS, we’ve taken these best practices to heart, building our Epicor® implementation and upgrade processes around the principles listed.

The PTS Seven-Phase Epicor® Implementation Process

Our Epicor® implementation process has been crafted over our years of working with Epicor® software across a variety of industries. We’ve found this process helps ensure the best Epicor® implementation possible, no matter what your business may be. The implementation process consists of the following seven phases:

Phase 1: Kickoff Meeting: We begin the whole process with a kickoff meeting, getting your entire staff involved with the implementation process. We’ll introduce ourselves and the team members involved and present our plans with regard to the implementation process. By reviewing the software, the scope of the project, the expectations and timelines involved and the training schedule, we can start everyone off on the right foot. The kickoff meeting also serves as a final step to approving the Epicor® software installation process among your management team.

Phase 2: Process Mapping: This is part of the planning process of our Epicor® installation process. This phase involves our consulting team working closely with your staff, especially your IT department, to develop a better understanding of your business processes. Once we understand your processes and needs, we’ll map them all out and identify the dashboard and reporting capabilities that will best benefit you in an Epicor® system.

Phase 3: Data Mapping: This step usually occurs during the process mapping step, and it involves observing and studying your data needs. At this stage, we will plan out all of the steps required to migrate your data and meet your data needs.

Phase 4: Configuration & Application Training: This stage of the Epicor® implementation process involves configuring the most basic aspects of the software and training staff on the software basics. The configuration portion of this phase involves composing the software specifications and developing and testing program solutions for deployment. Simultaneously, our trainers will work with your employees on Delta training, preparing them for the first day of the GO LIVE phase.

Phase 5: Validation & Modification: At this point, our consultants will simulate several mock business processes and scenarios to give your team opportunities to learn how the system works and responds to the scenarios. This process also effectively acts as a test-run of the system, double-checking for any system errors and allowing employees to review the system for any processes that could be further streamlined. Any errors found during this testing stage are modified following this phase.

Phase 6: Final Preparation/CRP: This is the final opportunity for your employees and business to test the solution before the final adjustments are made. This phase also serves as an opportunity for our consultants and professionals to make the final adjustments to the system. Once everyone is certain that the program is ready, your PTS consultant and planning team will get the GO LIVE program together and develop a contingency plan.

Phase 7: GO LIVE & Support: This GO LIVE phase starts with professionals and consultants giving the system a final check. Any open issues are closed, and any final adjustments are made before the end of the day before the GO LIVE phase begins.

Once the program goes live on GO LIVE day, our team will be on site the entire time, supporting your employees and business by providing additional on-the-spot training and answering any questions or concerns you or your employees may have about the system upon startup. Our team will also be backed up by our remote support team, so you can get the help you need when you need it.

We’ve used this implementation program several times in the past, and we’ve found that customers who use PTS for implementation and employ our seven step implementation process experience incredible results with their system. With our implementation system and our support staff, we guarantee you the smoothest first month possible, setting your business up for success in the future.

The PTS Upgrade Process

If you’re currently using Epicor®, you can still benefit from PTS’ team of upgrade consultants. Even if your current version of the ERP system works well for you, you can still benefit from the newest features and functions only the latest version can bring. However, between ensuring your business processes continue to run smoothly and learning the new functions and features of the software, installing a new version of your software may feel like more time and effort than it’s worth.

Practical Technology Solutions can help. You don’t need to take on an upgrade installation on your own. At PTS, we’ve been providing Epicor® upgrade help for years, and we know the software from the inside out. Let us help ease your burden by helping you implement your upgrade in the most efficient way possible.

Your personal upgrade consultant will guide you through the upgrade process from start to finish, getting you through the upgrade as quickly and easily as possible. So far, our consultants have helped with over 30 successful Epicor® upgrades, helping people transition from each version to the next — with jumps as big as from Epicor® 6 to Epicor® 10.

Our well-developed Epicor® upgrade process is simple yet sophisticated, guaranteeing a quality upgrade every time. Your personal consultant will implement this best practice system, based on years of proven results and experience. Our step-by-step upgrade methodology uses tools from Epicor® itself, enabling us to get through the upgrade as efficiently as possible while working with you and your IT staff to create a customized system suited to your organization.

Just like our implementation process, our upgrade process involves customization, testing, training and support — everything you need to guarantee a successful system implementation. Our customized system configurations are thoroughly tested throughout the process and are run by you and your employees for testing and assessment, helping us make the modifications you need to succeed.

Additionally, our comprehensive training, consisting of brief courses and hands-on lessons, is designed to help your employees and trainers grow comfortable with the upgrade as quickly as possible, preparing them to go live with the upgrade. What’s more, our support team will be with you every step of the way, offering you comprehensive and immediate support through your first month of using your newly upgraded software.

Learn More About Practical Technology Solutions

ERP software can be a lot to handle, especially if you are looking to upgrade or install the software. No matter how long you’ve worked with Epicor®, whether you’re a seasoned veteran or a new user, you can always use some implementation help. That’s where Practical Technology Solutions’ upgrade support comes in.

With years of experience, Practical Technology Solutions provides the best independent Epicor® consulting on the market. Our technicians come with years of training and the best certifications available, so we know what to do to make Epicor® work best for you and your business. Whether you need implementation help or upgrade support, our consultants are there to help you with efficient and cost-effective processes.

“We have been using Practical Technology Solutions for about 8 months now to augment my 1 person Epicor staff. We are using PTS to help us with screen changes, report development, BAQ/BPM development, performance advice, solution design, system integration, and functional consulting. We have been very happy with their work. They have always been clear about work estimates and stayed within them. Their technical quality has been excellent and their cost reasonable. PTS has always been able to address our requirements even in emergency situations. I would recommend PTS as a partner for Epicor technical services and continue to use them. “

—
Kadant Black Clawson, Inc.

“We don’t have a traditional IT department…… I’ve worked with a few different consultants over the last 3 years, after I found Practical Technical Solutions (An independent professional services provider), I will always go to them first with a need. They got to my projects in short order, knew exactly what I was talking about most of the time and if they didn’t, it was easy to explain to them what I needed. The rate is better and the work is more efficient than I have found elsewhere. I would highly recommend PTS (An independent professional services provider) to anyone using Epicor®.”

— Dudek & Bock

“General Formulations is a mid-sized manufacturing company currently using Epicor for our manufacturing system. We have used PTS for a number of tasks including custom SSRS reports, custom dashboards, BPM’s, and Go Live Support. I have found PTS knowledgeable, talented and extremely capable in the work that they have done for our company. I have worked with Jim, Sam, Jarrad, and Glenn and found them all to be consummate professionals with great attitude and ability. I can recommend PTS with the greatest confidence to anyone looking for top-notch help in implementation and customization of Epicor.”

Disclosure: Practical Technology Solutions LLC is a provider of Epicor® professional services and has no affiliation or partnership with Epicor® or SAP. Epicor® and Vantage® are trademearks of Epicor®. Crystal Reports® is a trademark of SAP.

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